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Feds Extend Indiana's Medicaid Pilot

President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul envisioned that about half of Indiana’s uninsured residents would get coverage through an expansion of Medicaid, the jointly run federal and state health program for the poor.

September 4, 2013

President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul envisioned that about half of Indiana’s uninsured residents would get coverage through an expansion of Medicaid, the jointly run federal and state health program for the poor.

A compromise that GOP Gov. Mike Pence reached with the Obama administration Tuesday would let tens of thousands of low-income Hoosiers continue to get health care next year through an alternative Medicaid program that includes cost sharing and fewer benefits.

And the deal leaves up in the air whether Indiana will see a full expansion of Medicaid to cover hundreds of thousands of poor, uninsured Hoosiers.

Pence, a vocal opponent of Obama’s health care plan, called it a victory for Hoosiers that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services allowed the state to continue its pilot Healthy Indiana Plan for another year. It had been scheduled to expire at the end of December when major provisions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act kick in.

Pence said the extension gives additional life to what he called an innovative program — which is modeled after high-deductible plans combined with health savings accounts — that encourages people to take responsibility for their health care decisions.